Robert F. Kennedy

Robert F. Kennedy (1925–1968) was a United States Senator from 1965 until his assassination in 1968. Kennedy was one of the first of the new "American Royal Families," families that seemingly have a continuous presence in national politics. Kennedy served as Attorney General under his brother, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Baines Johnson after his brother's assassination. He was elected Senator from New York in 1964, despite being from Massachusetts.

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Generally considered a mean cuss, especially while serving as U.S. Attorney General. Kennedy cut his teeth as a counsel for Joe McCarthy, to whom he'd maintain his loyalty after the scandals and who was his first child's godfather,[1] in the 1950s. He also served as counsel to the McClellan Committee, investigating Mafia involvement in organized labor. This led to several heated exchanges with Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa, who became Kennedy's lifelong nemesis. During his brother's administration, Robert was one of the President's closest advisors. Besides continuing to attack Hoffa, Kennedy was heavily involved in the Administration's Civil Rights initiatives. Unfortunately, J. Edgar Hoover had blackmail files on approximately threeve fafillion people, the Kennedy Bros. included, thus 'motivating' RFK (ostensibly his boss) to sign off on some of the harsher decisions.[2] Less commendably, he was also JFK's point man for Operation Mongoose, the CIA operation to assassinate Fidel Castro.

Due to disillusionment with the Vietnam War, Kennedy underwent an epiphany following Jack's death and became a born-again lefty (or so the legend goes). He certainly had a very hostile relationship with Lyndon Johnson, which led to Kennedy not only leaving Johnson's cabinet, but challenging him for President in 1968.

Death

Robert Kennedy was making a strong run for the presidency when he was shot dead in a Los Angeles hotel on June 6, 1968. His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, was a Christian Palestinian national angry at Kennedy's vocal support of Israel.

As with his brother, there is a conspiracy theory concerning his assassination, claiming Sirhan was brainwashed by the CIA, and/or there were other assassins involved.[3] These conspiracies typically revolve around a few, not very convincing, pieces of evidence: there were a lot of CIA agents in the area; a mysterious woman in polka-dot dress reportedly shouted "We shot him"; and (as with the JFK assassination) supposed inconsistencies in the number and trajectory of bullets fired that suggest a second gunman.[4] Sirhan, who's still serving a life sentence, has tried to appeal his conviction on these grounds several times; unsurprisingly, they've been declined. After all, he did go to a shooting range on the day of the assassination, was arrested at the scene with a revolver, and confessed during the trial; and problems with the forensic evidence can be explained by police incompetence.[5]

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References
  1. The Kennedys and McCarthyism
  2. "Hoover's Secet Files", Ronald Kessler
  3. Mary Ferrell Foundation: The Robert Kennedy Assassination
  4. See the Wikipedia article on Robert F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories.
  5. Bobby Kennedy’s son thinks he was killed by a second shooter. Is there anything to it?, Boston.com, May 31, 2018
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